Sports and research achievement to be honoured at Abertay graduation ceremony

21 November 2007

The University of Abertay Dundee is to award honorary degrees to Louise Martin CBE, leader of the successful Glasgow bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and Sir Keith O’Nions, director general of Science and Innovation in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills, at its Winter Graduation ceremony next week (Friday 30 November).

Louise Martin will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Arts in recognition of her outstanding contribution to sports development in the UK, and in Scotland in particular.  She competed as a swimmer for Scotland in the 1962 Commonwealth Games, reaching the finals of the 100m and 200m backstroke events. 

Since retiring from international competition, she has worked as a teacher and examiner in nutrition, and held a number of posts in sports administration.  As well as leading the Glasgow 2014 bid, she is also currently a board member of UK Sport and the Scottish Institute for Sport, as well as being chairman of the Scottish Hall of Fame Selection Panel.

Sir Keith O’Nions will be awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the development of the UK’s academic research base.  After a distinguished career as a researcher in earth sciences, including posts in Canada, Norway, the USA and at both Cambridge and Oxford Universities, he became chairman or member of a number of Research Council committees.

He was a member of the Council of Science and Technology from 1998-2000. He was Trustee and Chairman of the Natural History Museum from 1996 to 2005, and received a Knighthood for services to Earth Sciences in the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours.

Professor Bernard King CBE, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Abertay University, said:  “We are honoured to be able to recognise the achievements of two such successful individuals.   Louise and Sir Keith’s careers are eloquent testimony to what the combination of talent, passion and commitment can achieve.

“When they ascend the Caird Hall’s stage next week, I am sure that their examples will inspire the hundreds of other Abertay graduates alongside them.”

Pictures of the Honorary Graduates are available by contacting Jill Dempster on 01382 308223 or j.dempster@abertay.ac.uk.

 
LOUISE MARTIN CBE

Louise Martin became a national heroine earlier this month when Glasgow won the right to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games, was elected the Hon Secretary of the Commonwealth Games Federation for a second term at the General Assembly in Jamaica in 2003.  The first woman to hold a post on the CGF Executive, she was also the first woman Chairman of the Scottish Commonwealth Games Council, being re-elected for a further term in May 2003. She represented Scotland in the 2012 Olympic Bid Regional Group and was appointed to lead Scotland’s Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games Bid from the start.

Louise has been involved in the Games both as a competitor and an administrator, competing in the 1962 Commonwealth Games in Perth, Australia where she made the swimming finals in 100m and 200m backstroke.  She was also a silver medallist in the 1967 World Student Games.

After retiring from her international sporting career, Louise trained in nutrition at what is now Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, and spent some 20 years working as a teacher, examiner, specialist regional adviser and latterly lecturer in home economics and nutrition in Edinburgh, Fife and the Highlands.

Since retiring from competitive sport Louise has held various positions in a number of sporting areas. She is currently board member of UK Sport and also the Scottish Institute for Sport, as well as being chairman of the Scottish Hall of Fame Selection Panel.  She has also served on the boards of Scottish Gymnastics, the Sports Aid Foundation Grants Committee, and sportscotland.

SIR KEITH O’NIONS FRS

Professor Sir Keith O'Nions is Director General, Science and Innovation in the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.  He was previously Chief Scientific Adviser at the MOD from January 2000 to July 2004 and Director General, Science and Innovation and Chief Scientific Adviser in DTI from 2004 onwards.

Keith O’Nions was born on 26 September 1944, attended the University of Nottingham, gained a PhD in Earth Sciences from the University of Alberta and became a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oslo.

From 1971 to 1975 he was Demonstrator and then Lecturer in Geochemistry at the University of Oxford. He became Professor of Geology at Columbia University in 1975, and Royal Society Research Professor at Cambridge University from 1979, before returning to Oxford as Head of Earth Sciences in 1999.

Keith O'Nions has enjoyed extensive participation in a broad range of academic and technological committees. He became a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1979, and a Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters in 1980. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (1983), Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences (1998), Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (2001), and Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (2005). 

He has been the chairman, or a member, of a number of Research Council committees over the last 25 years and a member of the Council of Science and Technology from 1998-2000. He was Trustee and Chairman of the Natural History Museum from 1996 to 2005, and received a Knighthood for services to Earth Sciences in the 1999 Queen's Birthday Honours.